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### **Dodgeball: When to Call for Backup in Kalamazoo, MI**

 February 2020 | Volume 13 | Issue 2

Assistant Chief Vernon Coakley’s visit to Kamp Kzoo  started out normally. The Parks and Recreation department runs the camp for  local kids during the summer, and, as in past years, organizers asked Assistant  Chief Coakley to stop by and talk to the campers about the town’s public safety  services. Coakley is head of Community Outreach at the Kalamazoo (Michigan) Public  Safety Department.

The Kalamazoo  Public Safety Department is the largest public safety department in the  country, comprising police, fire, and emergency response. “All 250 of our  officers are community policing officers,” Coakley explains. “We are fully  committed to President Obama’s 21st Century Policing philosophy.” Outreach has  been a key component of that philosophy: “Our job is to get out of the cruisers  and meet Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and hear what they are concerned about and figure  out how to help.”

This commitment to community engagement extends well  beyond emergency response. On his way out of Kamp Kzoo, the older children  drafted Assistant Chief Coakley into their game of dodgeball, where he quickly  became the prime target. He asked the kids if they were just going to keep  trying to get him out; the kids responded in the affirmative. “Well,” Coakley  recalls, “I told them that I was going to need backup.”

Public Safety Services HQ is conveniently located next to  Kamp Kzoo. Assistant Chief Coakley called his chief and requested backup from  the senior officers. Fourteen officers, from lieutenants to the chief, walked  over in uniform and the game began in earnest.

“I wish you could have seen them turning the corner and  marching in time. It was quite the scene. It was a good opportunity, and it’s  our philosophy to embrace those opportunities.” Coakley declined to disclose  the final score, but it’s safe to say everyone won.

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